Future Of Bowl In Doubt 1st Heritage Game May Have Been Last

The Alamo Heritage Bowl was envisioned by its African-American founders as a source of pride for South Florida`s black community and a source of dollars for black businesses and charities.

But three weeks after Alabama State beat North Carolina A&T in the inaugural football game, the future appears clouded for the first sanctioned bowl for historically black universities.

Only 7,724 people attended the game in the 73,000-seat Joe Robbie Stadium, the event lost several hundred thousand dollars, and bowl board members have been accused of steering business to themselves and their friends.

The bowl netted nothing for the United Negro College Fund and the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, two charities that were supposed to benefit from the game`s profits.

Organizers cannot even say whether there will be a Heritage Bowl II.

``Hopefully,`` board President Dorsey Miller Jr. said. ``The Heritage Bowl can become the premier black sports event in America. We should not give up because we failed this one time.``

Key questions: Can organizers quickly raise money to pay back bills, hang on to Alamo Rent A Car and other sponsors, and find ways to lure more fans to the game?

``In the interest of the kids, I hope they keep it together; the players loved it,`` said Mark Ballard, athletic business manager at Alabama State in Montgomery.

Other games involving Florida`s black universities have drawn much larger crowds in South Florida. The bowl`s big problem, observers say, was poor advertising.

The game made news around the country, but fans were not told how to come. Ads did not run in obvious spots such as black-oriented magazines. Local ads came late. A worried Alamo hustled up three firms to mount a final-weeks ad blitz.

Promotional banners were hung not in black neighborhoods, but on East Las Olas Boulevard.

``It would have been nice to see those banners in the traditional black community,`` said Terry Lewis, urban development director for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce.

``You`ve got to motivate people to come,`` said James McKinley, the bowl`s paid director. ``Just knowing about it doesn`t mean people will get up out of their seats and buy a ticket.``

Bowl organizers concede they were novices and should have found professional help. They also say the $20 ticket price was too high.

The bowl needed 30,000 fans to break even. An audit due this week will show how much it lost, Miller said.

Alamo had planned to spend $150,000 to sponsor the game, but loaned another $350,000 when the till ran dry. Organizers say they think the company will not bail out. Alamo said it has not decided whether to hang in, or whether to collect the loan.

``There`s a lot to consider: this year`s success, what will be needed to break even next year,`` company spokeswoman Kathy Bradley said.

The bowl`s 10-person board also is taking heat for hiring companies connected to five or more members and to friends and relatives.

The contracts do not violate state laws or NCAA rules, but critics say they look like favoritism.

Andrew Ingraham`s Horizon Marketing Inc., of Lauderhill, was beaten out by a travel agency that employs the wife of bowl lawyer and former board member W. George Allen.

``It looks bad,`` Ingraham said. ``We`re hoping someone does an audit to see where this money went.``

The bowl bought insurance from director McKinley, who steps down this week. McKinley`s daughter won rights to sell bowl T-shirts. Firms owned by board members were paid to supply flowers and mailing services. Another board member was briefly put on the payroll.

Gray Line bus company, whose president is board treasurer Hayward Benson, bought the right to haul bowl passengers. Levi Henry, publisher of The Westside Gazette and a friend of bowl officials, won printing and ad business.

Bowl officials declined to provide a list of vendors or to say how much the insider contracts were worth.

But they defended the practice, saying the amounts were small, the prices were competitive, the companies were qualified and board members did not profit. The bowl still owes money to many of those firms.

``There`s an impression out there that all of us are really making out,`` Miller said. ``That`s a straight-out lie.``

The bowl hired 55 black-owned companies, but struggled to hire more. Three dozen firms came to a seminar on winning merchandising rights; only five followed through, Miller said.

Even so, Pompano Beach City Commissioner E. Pat Larkins said the dollars may have distracted the board from the bowl itself.

``If there had been more on board who did not have selfish interests, there would have been less squabbling and a much more professional approach,`` Larkins said.